


Back In Time 1 - Correction

by aschicca



Series: Back In Time [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Changing the past, F/M, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix AU, M/M, MWPP Era, Powerful Sirius Black, Time Travel, can be read as standalone, is in fact a standalone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22334656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aschicca/pseuds/aschicca
Summary: Sirius’s soul is sent back to 1977 to retrieve an important piece of paper, but he needs to be careful not to alter fixed events. Maybe he'll still be able to find a loophole...
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Back In Time [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607698
Comments: 6
Kudos: 93





	Back In Time 1 - Correction

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story in a small universe that I called Back in Time. I set out to write just one story, to be honest, but at some point it went into an unforeseen direction and the first part felt wholly unconnected with the second. So I split them and they became two separate stories. 
> 
> This one is a bit more angst-ridden, and it’s integrated in the events of the canon. It’s also the first one I finished so it became the first story in the ‘verse, too. There’s a character named in this story that will feature more in the second one; at first I thought to change the name but I did like the fact that, somehow, even after I split them the stories still remained connected.
> 
> The ones amongst you who loved ‘Gilmore Girls’ as much as I do will probably recognize a scene described in this story that’s liberally taken from something the Life And Death Brigade enacted in one of the episodes. It’s an homage not an appropriation, I own nothing here and I claim nothing.
> 
> Also one of the lines Remus says in this story is not my own. You’ll see what I’m talking about and you’ll know who to credit for it.
> 
> The second story will be posted next week but they can both be read as standalones.

_“…tergum in tempus!”_

As soon as Dumbledore finished the incantation, Sirius’s body sagged and everyone gasped. 

It worked. Sirius’s soul was going back in time and, with just a bit of luck, the Order might soon have in their hands the means to destroy Voldemort and win the war.

Remus placed himself in front of the enchanted mirror that would allow him and the other members of the Order to watch Sirius’s journey, and waited with bathed breath to see him. It wasn’t as if Remus didn’t trust Dumbledore’s spellwork, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to relax until he saw that Sirius’s soul had landed safely in Hogwarts, back in 1977.

“Bloody buggering hell!” 

The loud imprecation came from the mirror and Remus chuckled watching it spring to life. Sirius somehow landed right in front of the Whomping Willow and, obviously forgetting that he was incorporeal and invisible, scrambled to get out of the way of the tree and its offending branches.

“Well, I’d say he’s made it,” Arthur Weasley commented, and Remus sighed in relief.

*  
After Kingsley Shacklebolt captured a member of Voldemort’s inner circle and interrogated him using Veritaserum, the Death Eater Darius MacGillis finally offered an invaluable piece of information to the Order: Hidden amongst the books in the Hogwarts Library was a roll of parchment in which a young Tom Riddle extensively and meticulously detailed his quest for immortality. 

Retrieving that paper was paramount, of course, because it would no doubt sway the odds of victory in the Order’s favour. The only problem was that the part of the Library described by MacGillis burned down in 1978 and everything in it was lost. This simple fact obviously explained Voldemort’s willingness to share such a pivotal information with his followers: The paper was destroyed many years past.

“There is a spell that could be useful in this case,” Dumbledore revealed one night in the study of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place where the Order was meeting. “But I’m afraid it’s dangerous and a bit volatile.”

“What do you mean, sir?” Remus asked.

“As you all know,” Dumbledore addressed not only Remus but everyone in the room, “going back in time isn’t a task to be undertaken lightly. It is almost impossible to travel back more than a few hours because, of course, those hours would have to be lived again and the chance of altering the past in ways it should not be altered becomes dangerously likely. Traveling back years? One simply couldn’t do it while corporeal without fundamentally reshaping reality. However, one’s soul could be sent back in the past for a finite amount of time: It would be invisible to the eyes of others yet still able to affect the world around it.”

“So what you’re saying is that you have a way to send my soul back in the ‘70s and I would be able to retrieve that paper without being seen. Do I have that right?” Sirius asked, and Remus gasped.

“Sirius! Why… How… It cannot be you!”

“And why not, Remus? What use am I here, now? You all have your parts to play in the war, and I just sit here slowly going mad…”

“I do think that ship already sailed, Black,” Severus Snape commented, snidely. “Besides, useless and mad are two of your most prominent traits. Always have been.”

“Shut up, Severus!” Remus growled, preventing Sirius from taking out his new wand and hexing Snape. 

Nothing could prevent him from sniping back, though, and Sirius let all his frustration out on his old enemy. 

“Why don’t you just come out and say it, Snivelly? You want to be the one to go so you can stalk Lily again! Watch her from the shadows like you always did, creep her and everyone else out in the process. Blimey, I can just imagine how spooky it would be for her to be watched by both your younger self and your decrepit one. You can forget it! I will never allow you to spy on her again!”

“Why, you filthy little…” Snape jumped up and started to snarl back, but Dumbledore intervened.

“Silence! I won’t hear another word out of the both of you,” the Headmaster forcefully ordered, and his tone was enough to stop both men from saying anything more – though they kept glaring daggers at one another. 

“Sirius,” Dumbledore spoke again, “While I do admit that the suggestion of sending you back in time isn’t without merit, I am concerned that the very thing you just accused Severus of might be true for you, too. Can you deny that the chance of seeing James Potter again is the force driving you to volunteer for the task?”

Blushing, Sirius sighed. “I can’t. I _won’t_ deny it, sir. But it’s not the only reason why I want to go. I want to see James, yes, and I want to go back to a time when I was happy and carefree. I do, sir. I want to remember… See for myself what it meant to be whole, to have hope for the future,” Sirius swallowed down his tears before continuing. “But more than that, I want to do something for the Order… For Harry. I’m not sure how long I will be able to just stay hidden and let everyone else risk their lives; sit back and watch while you fight a war that threatens to destroy everything we hold dear once again. Sir, please, let me contribute to that. Let me fight.”

Everyone in the room was visibly moved by Sirius’s heartfelt speech, and even Snape stopped sending death glares in his direction and simply sat back down. Molly Weasley had tears in her eyes, and Kingsley moved to Sirius’s side to place a hand on his shoulder in comfort. 

Remus, who was still standing on the other side, took Sirius’s hand and interlocked their fingers before addressing Dumbledore .“Sir, I… I can’t say I’m completely in favour of this, but if you think that sending Sirius’s soul back might work then… Please, let him do it. Let him have this…”

Sirius tightened his hold on Remus’s fingers and thanked him with a whisper.

“In a way, Sirius, your soul is the strongest one therefore it would be perfect for the task,” Dumbledore said. “I know it might come as a surprise to everyone here given what you suffered at the hands of the Dementors, but to survive them as long as you did and to regain the chance to heal your mind and your memory cleansing them of their influence, afforded a strength to your soul that very few people can claim. It especially comes to our aid in this particular matter.”

“Hear that, Moony?” Sirius quipped. “I’m special.”

“A very special case, yes,” Remus deadpanned, and Sirius laughed.

“If the two of you are quite finished…” Dumbledore chided, gently. He waited for both men to apologize, then continued. “As I was saying, sending your soul back is rather the optimal solution, Sirius. However, your mind still hasn’t completely healed and the chance of finding yourself in a past where you were whole, as you yourself put it, might have a dangerous effect on it.”

“What sort of danger are we talking about, Albus?” Minerva McGonagall asked.

“Well you see, Minerva, the temptation of interfering with the past and changing its course is always very strong when one travels back. This is true for everybody, of course, but it’s doubly true for someone who lost as much as Sirius did, especially since he still hasn’t recovered from it. He might not be able to control himself long enough to just perform his task and come back to us. Sirius could simply lose his will to fight the urge to save his friends, and his meddling could have catastrophic consequences on our reality.”

Dumbledore’s grim answer caused every eye to turn on Sirius. Most of them were skepticals, and a few just pained and full of sorrow, but the only ones Sirius cared about were Remus’s so he stared at him.

“I can do it, Moons,” Sirius insisted, and Remus nodded.

“I know you can. I do,” Remus chanced a smile, then addressed Dumbledore. “Sir, can you limit Sirius’s journey in 1977 so much that he’ll only have time to retrieve the papers we need, hide them in your cabinet at Hogwarts so you’ll be able to find them today, and come back here? The less time he spends there, the smaller the chance of him altering the past becomes.”

“That is a good suggestion, Remus, but I’m afraid the time limit for this spell is fixed: Sirius will have to stay in the past for no less than twenty-four hours,” Dumbedore replied.

“A day? That’s good, right? How much can I mess up in a single day?” Sirius asked, smiling.

“Please don’t make me answer that…” Remus replied, and just like that the tension in the room disappeared.

*

Molly offered a cup of tea to Remus and sat beside him; together they watched Sirius walk through the grounds of Hogwarts and saw him reach the gates.

“He will be fine, Remus,” Molly comforted, and Remus nodded. “He promised you, didn’t he? Before he left, before Dumbledore sent him back, he promised you he wouldn’t do anything stupid and that he would come safely back to you.”

“He did, yes.”

“Didn’t he also tell you he’d be talking to you during his journey? Even if he can’t hear your answers, he said he would… how was it he put it? Give you a commentary of his adventures?”

Remus chuckled and, as if on cue, Sirius’s voice came strong and clear from the mirror.

“Right, Moons. Here we go,” he said walking through the doors of Hogwarts. “Let’s see if I remember the way to the Library, shall we? As you know, it’s not like I spent much time there back in the days.”

While Sirius walked through the corridors leading to the Library, Kingsley and Arthur Weasley joined Remus and Molly in front of the mirror. Dumbledore and McGonagall had gone back to Hogwarts to wait for Sirius to place Tom Riddle’s paper in Dumbledore’s office, Snape was off to the school as well, and the other members of the Order had different assignments to carry out. Obviously, nothing could have pried Remus away from Sirius’s soulless and lifeless body, that was lying on a sofa in the same parlour where the mirror was, and the other three stayed to keep him company.

“Merlin, Moony! Is that Cath Mulligan?” Sirius exclaimed suddenly. He was pointing at a cute brunette that sat on a windowsill and talked to a friend. “Yes, it’s her! Remember how she used to follow you around to try and get you to ask her out? Little did she know that you were already too taken with another black-haired beauty to even glance at her. Ah, poor Cath. Couldn’t stand a chance against me.”

“He’s conveniently ignoring the fact that James almost had me convinced to ask Cath out and Sirius threw a fit when he heard of it,” Remus grinned. “Still, yeah, not like she could hold a candle against Sirius.”

Shaking his head and obviously unable to hear Remus’s reply, Sirius resumed his walk towards the Library. 

He came to a screeching halt one second later.

A young version of Peter Pettigrew was running towards Sirius, breathless with exortion and yelling, “I don’t have it!” 

Behind him ran James Potter, his robes billowing and a mischievous expression on his young, handsome face.

“Don’t even think about hiding it, Wormy!” James shouted, grinning, and from the mirror Remus could clearly see Sirius’s eyes fill with tears as he watched James pass him by.

“James…” Sirius called in a whisper, and tried in vain to grab at his friend. 

Dumbledore had been clear: No one would be able to see or hear Sirius in the past, and Sirius wouldn’t be able to touch a living person or to affect them in any way. Sirius’s soul could only affect inanimate things like books, quills, or rolls of parchment like the one he was sent back to retrieve. 

Even knowing that, Sirius still couldn’t help but hold out a hand to try and touch his long lost brother.

Remus’s heart broke seeing the devastation on Sirius’s face when James couldn’t feel his presence, and then his breath caught in his throat when someone else appeared after James. 

Long hair tied up in a bun on top of his head, with just a few stray locks framing his striking face, a young Sirius Black walked lazily, smiling widely and twirling his wand with one hand while the other grasped Remus’s robes and used the hold to pull Remus’s younger self along with him.

“You should tell James that Peter doesn’t have the key,” young Remus was saying, and both versions of Sirius grinned.

“You’re assuming he doesn’t already know, Remus,” young Sirius replied, and the two seventeen year old boys passed Sirius’s soul causing him to whirl around, a grin still on his face, and look on while they walked after James and Peter.

“Such a gentle, naive soul you always were, Moony,” Sirius’s soul commented, shaking his head and starting back towards the Library. 

Blushing because of Sirius’s comment – and because seeing the way he blindly let himself be led by Sirius during their Hogwarts days filled Remus with both embarrassement and nostalgia – Remus took in Sirius’s rigid posture and the dying of his grin: It was obviously costing him a great deal not to simply turn and run back after The Marauders of old.

“So sorry, Pads,” Remus whispered, and Molly put a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

Finally, Sirius reached the Library and entered it. He stopped to look around for a moment and his mouth opened in a little O when he saw Lily’s and Marlene’s heads bent on the Divination chart they’d spread over one of the tables. 

Sirius took a few steps towards them but something seemed to hold him back because he shook his head and resolutely turned and walked towards the section of the Library he needed to search.

“I’m doing it, Remus, see? I’m staying strong. Not straying. Not messing up. Going to look for Voldy’s old little confession and nothing more. That’s it,” Sirius nodded with every sentence he uttered. “That’s all.”

“I’m proud of you,” Remus replied, and watched while Sirius reached the shelves that would burn down merely a year later and begun to look for the roll of parchment that would hopefully help them deal a fatal blow to Voldemort.

There, stacked between _“Parsley, Peppermint, and Passionflower: Guide to Medicinal Herbs”_ and _“The mating rituals of Hyppogriffs”_ – the latter causing Sirius to wince and utter a, “Yuck! Please tell me this is the one book you _didn’t_ study from cover to cover, Moony!” – Sirius found what he was looking for. 

The little scroll, folded so many times that it was now reduced to nothing more than a little square, had a T and an R scribbled on it and, even in his non-corporeal form, Sirius could clearly feel that it was protected by some sort of spell that Dumbledore would no doubt have to lift before he was able to open it and read what was written inside. 

“I got it!” Sirius yelled, and everyone in Grimmauld Place rejoiced.

“Well done, Sirius,” Arthur commented, and Remus smiled proudly.

“Right,” Sirius continued from the mirror, “Next stop: Dumbledore’s office. This’ll be the first time I’m not going up there to be scolded, Moons!”

*

When Riddle’s paper was delivered safely to Dumbledore’s office, Kingsley sent a Patronus to the Headmaster to inform him that he should be able to find it in the cabinet he’d told Sirius to use. While they waited to know if their plan had worked and if Dumbledore was able to read the paper, Remus checked his watch and realised that Sirius had been gone for a mere six hours. That meant he still had eighteen empty hours to spend in 1977.

As if reading his mind, Arthur said, “He’ll make it, Remus. He’s determined and strong. He can make it.”

Before Remus could reply, Dumbledore’s Patronus came back to the house and the Headmaster’s voice rang soundly through the room:

“Our endevour was a success. The paper arrived back safely and it contains information even more vital than we previously anticipated. Sirius’s bravery has given us the means to end this war once and for all.”

Relief settled on the little group assembled in Grimmauld Place, and Molly ran into her husband’s arms and held him tight. Kingsley excused himself and went to message the other members of the Order to inform them of the success of their mission, and Remus was the only one to remain seated and stare intently at the mirror.

“You did it, Pads. Please just be strong a little while more… Please…”

*

Sirius was bored out of his skull. He’d been in Hogwarts for almost twelve hours and he’d landed back in the past when it was almost dinner-time so, as soon as he completed his mission, he could only spend his time wandering the corridors alone while the students slept. At first it was lovely to be able to walk the castle undisturbed and rediscover every nook and cranny he and his friends explored while working on the map, but after a while boredom took over and he just retreated to the top of the Astronomy Tower and sat there staring at his own star. 

In a way, he couldn’t help but wish the day would dawn and the kids would start running around the school again so they could entertain him for the twelve hours he still had to stay there; on the other hand, Sirius was terrified of having so many empty hours at his disposal to spend watching his younger self and his friends live their lives without a care in the world, unsuspecting of the tragedy that was looming on the horizon for them. 

Would he really be able to stop himself from warning them? 

He knew he had to. Remus made him swear he wouldn’t do anything to change the past, and Sirius couldn’t think of disappointing him. He could still hear Remus’s words in his head…

“It’s tempting, Pads, don’t you think I understand that? Do you believe I wouldn’t want you to do it? Warn James, save his life and Lily’s… Sirius! Of course I want that! I would give anything to have them back. But we can’t… You can’t. Those tragic events are fixed. If you toy with them no one knows what could happen. What if it means Voldemort wins the first time? What if telling James, or even your younger self, about Peter changes our friendship so much that we lose touch and everyone dies anyway? Plus, it could change us, have you thought of that? In 1977, the year you’re going back to, we finally stopped being cowards and declared our feelings for one another; if you change everything, maybe we will never… maybe we won’t… Sirius, we’ve had difficult, painful lives – you more than anyone – but we’re back together now. I love you and I don’t want to lose you. Please, please, promise me! Swear to me that you won’t do anything to alter a past that’s fixed…”

Sirius swore, over and over, kissing Remus and holding him tight to reassure him. He promised and had every intention to keep his promise.

But he still had eleven hours and fifteen minutes to survive…

*

Sirius successfully avoided his younger self and the others for most of the morning. He followed Snape around, tripped him a few times, messed up his papers, and even pettily ruined the potion he was working on for Slughorn’s class, hiding the ingredients he needed or stirring the concoction when it was time for it to rest. A small satisfaction but an irresistible one; and really, Sirius had been so good until then that he felt he deserved a spot of fun.

At lunchtime, Sirius thought he could safely visit Gryffindor Tower and his old dormitory without incurring in the risk of seeing himself and his friends since they would surely be in the Big Hall eating. 

He was wrong. 

As soon as he stepped foot in his old bedroom, Sirius found himself in the midst of a lively discussion among the four occupants of the room. He knew he should run back out and put as much distance between himself and The Marauders as he could, but Sirius found it impossible to move. He could only stare at James…

“She smiled at me, did you see it, Pads?” Young James was saying, and both Siriuses smiled.

“She sure did, Prongsie. We did it, mate!” The younger version of Sirius replied.

After swallowing a mouthful of food – clearly they’d done a kitchen run in order to be able to eat in the dormitory instead of in the Hall with everyone else – Peter animatedly started recalling the scene that, Sirius suddenly remembered, they’d enacted during one of Binn’s snooze-worthy lessons.

“‘T was brilliant! The way James and Sirius pretended to fight for Lily’s affection, running all around the classroom and swearing up and down each to be the only one worthy of ‘the fair Lily’s’ heart! And then,” Peter chuckled, spraying crumbs all over his bed, “Then Remus got up and separated them and started berating Lily for turning his friends into love-sick morons! Perfect, that’s what it was!”

“Calm down, Wormy,” James grinned, “We were there, remember? No need for you to give us the play-by-play.”

“Yes, but did you see everyone’s face?” Peter’s glee was apparently impossible to dent. “I thought Snape would explode! I swear I never saw anyone’s face turn that sort of colour!”

Barking out a laugh, the young version of Sirius commented, “Well, I found it to be a great improvement myself.”

“I’m with Padfoot on this,” Remus said, and Sirius smiled at him. 

Watching the scene unfold, it struck Sirius’s soul now that his younger self had been truly blind not to understand immediately that the way Remus looked at him was quite different from the way he looked at James or Pettigrew. 

Of course, Remus had been just as blind because, glancing at his own young face, Sirius could clearly see love shining in his own eyes. They’d been idiots for so long but, if Sirius recalled correctly, in just a few weeks they would get their heads on straight and finally get together. 

The sharp pang of envy Sirius felt, quickly followed by dread when he remembered how short-lived their happiness would be, was enough to bowl him over and he sat on his old bed glad that the spell allowed him to sit at all. 

Tears in his eyes, Sirius focused once again on James.

“Yes, yes, all of that, but… Lily smiled at me in the end! She did! At first I thought we’d made even more of a mess of things, I mean she didn’t exactly look happy when we started our scene, but then… By the end of it, everyone except Snivellus was laughing and clapping, and Lily smiled. At me! She smiled at me, she did…” James’s eyes glossed over while he thought back to that smile.

“We know, Prongs. We were there, remember?” Remus reminded, gently.

“She smiled…” James was still saying, and the younger Sirius rolled his eyes.

“We lost him, lads. Nothing we can do to save him now,” he commented, and both Remus and Peter laughed when James suddenly jumped on Sirius and started tickling him.

From his sitting position on the bed he’d slept in when he’d been at school himself, Sirius’s soul took in the scene and a pained whimper left his mouth. He missed him so much. He always had and he always will, but to have James this close without being able to talk to him, look into his eyes and see affection directed at him, now, and not just at his old self… It was torture.

“I need help, Moons…” Sirius’s soul whispered, knowing that Remus, _his_ Remus, would hear him on the other side of the mirror. “I don’t know if I can do it. Be strong enough to…”

His voice grew fainter and, after curling in on himself, Sirius’s soul tried to tune his old friends out and repeated over and over that he had to resist. Resist, and be strong, and survive the few hours he still had left in the past. He could steel himself and get back home without altering anything.

With that thought in mind, and finding himself in one of the very few places where he’d always felt safe, Sirius fell asleep.

*

He dreamt of James, of living a happy life with his chosen brother by his side, and when he woke up he was confused. He looked around, saw his old dormitory and, as soon as his mind caught up with what was happening, his body moved as if on auto-pilot.

Acting seemingly without consciousness or intention, Sirius picked up a quill and started writing down a few notes on a parchment. He didn’t have more than a few minutes, he could already feel the spell taking action once more and starting to transport his soul back to the future and into his body. 

The world twirled around him and he closed his eyes.

*

“No! Sirius!” Remus yelled, watching impotently while the love of his life broke his promise and changed the past. 

“Merlin preserve us! What did he do?” Arthur whispered, horrified, and Molly cried.

Kingsley tried to send a Patronus to Dumbledore, warn him that Sirius did the one thing he never should have done and that their reality could be changed forever but before he could even manifest one, the mirror went dark and Sirius’s body flinched.

Everyone froze; Remus was the only one able to move and reach the sofa where Sirius’s body lay. 

“Sirius?” He called, shaking him gently, and was rewarded by a soft groan. “Sirius?” He tried again and this time Sirius’s eyes blinked open.

“Hurts…” Sirius whispered.

“What does? Where does it hurt, Pads?”

“Everywhere…”

Remus looked at Arthur, “Do you think the spell went wrong?” He asked, worried.

Arthur shrugged, but it was Kingsley who spoke.

“We’ll get to that in a minute. First of all, Sirius, what did you do? We saw you writing something down before we lost connection through the mirror. What did you write? What did you change?”

“Didn’t… change…” Sirius croaked, curling in on himself in pain.

“Sirius, we saw you,” Kingsley insisted. “No use denying it, so tell me immediately and I will contact Dumbledore!”

“Enough now!” Remus roared. “He’s in pain, Kin, can’t you see it? Do contact Dumbledore and tell him to get back here immediately and help him!”

“But, Remus…”

“No buts! We’re all still here, aren’t we? So whatever he did must not have influenced our reality that badly. Let’s see to him now, and we’ll get to the bottom of this later.”

Grudgingly, Kingsley nodded and finally sent out a Patronus to Dumbledore.

“It’ll be okay, Pads,” Remus comforted, gently caressing Sirius’s back. “You’ll see. We’ll fix this.”

“Didn’t… Didn’t, Moony… Didn’t! No changing what’s fixed…” Sirius insisted, and Remus nodded.

“Okay, okay. I believe you.”

*

Sitting in the kitchen with Kingsley and the Weasleys, Remus fiddled with his cup of tea but didn’t even take a small sip. Dumbledore was in the parlour with Sirius, seeing to his condition and, most likely, interrogating him on the possibility of him changing the past, and Remus had been banished from the room along with everybody else. No amount of pleading helped his case: Dumbledore requested privacy and that was that.

“It’ll be okay, Remus,” Molly gently said. “You’ll see.”

“Yes,” Arthur agreed. “We’ve been in contact with everyone and it doesn’t look like Sirius altered anything so it seems he was telling the truth: He didn’t do anything.”

“Either that or his attempt failed,” Kingsley reasoned. 

It wasn’t said in an unkind or accusing way, it was more like an option that needed to be considered and Kingsley was merely obliging. Still, it irked Remus and he couldn’t help but glaring at him.

A noise coming from the direction of the door prompted Remus to turn his eyes from where they were boring holes in Kingsley’s skull, and the breath caught in his throat.

“Sirius…”

Remus hastily got up and ran to where Sirius stood. He looked pale and worn out, but his face wasn’t contorted in pain anymore and he was able to stand by himself.

“Hey there, Moony.”

Remus closed the distance between them and held Sirius close, breathing in relief when he could feel Sirius return his embrace.

“Are you…”

“He will be alright soon, Remus,” Dumbledore answered instead, and Remus released Sirius to look at the Headmaster.

“Sir… Thank you. I didn’t know what was wrong… He was in so much pain…”

“Ah, yes. I’m afraid the separation between soul and body is much less complicated than their subsequent rejoining. I’m sorry to say Sirius had to feel every bit of the re-connection, and it was far from a pleasant experience. Luckily the whole process usually doesn’t last long, and he should only be feeling a bit of ache in his bones and some mild discomfort for a few hours still before everything is back in order.”

“Basically, Moons, nothing a good warm bath and a massage can’t fix,” Sirius quipped, and Remus chuckled. 

“Of course, my Lord, consider me at your service.”

Sirius winked.

“I do think we have slightly more pressing matters to attend to, my boys,” Dumbledore smiled, indulgently. “If you don’t mind, that is…”

Blushing, Remus took Sirius’s hand and they joined the others at the table. Molly offered a cup of tea to Sirius and he thanked her with a smile.

“Sir,” Kingsley asked. “The message we saw Sirius write, did it alter…”

“Oi! I did not change anything! Just how many times do I have to tell you?”

“But we _saw_ you, Sirius,” Kingsley insisted.

“You saw me pick up a quill and a piece of paper, that’s all! And yes, bloody hell, yes, I _wanted_ to write a note and warn James but I didn’t. I promised,” Sirius turned towards Remus and took his hand in his. “I promised you, Moony. Said I wouldn’t, that I’d be strong. I was. I kept my promise. Didn’t want to but… When I could feel the spell starting to take effect again, I had a few moments to write down the words that would change everything. I could have done and I wanted to… But you… I had to come back to you and what if you weren’t here anymore? What if as the result of my altering fixed events you di… died? That wasn’t a risk I was willing to take…”

Sirius’s voice stumbled on the last words and tears formed in his eyes. Remus squeezed the hand that was holding his own and nodded.

“I knew you would. I knew it, Pads. I trusted you with everything in me and you repaid that trust tenfold. I’m sorry… So sorry you couldn’t save him… Save James, and Lily, maybe even Peter. I’m so sorry, Sirius. But thank you… Thank you for keeping your promise.”

Sirius darted forward and placed a kiss on Remus’s lips; then, before anyone could protest, he sat back and contented himself with feeling the weight of Remus’s hand in his, and the press of Remus’s thigh against his own.

“Sorry I doubted you, Sirius,” Kingsley inclined his head with the apology, and Sirius nodded.

“So it worked, didn’t it?” Arthur asked. “Sirius’s mission was a success, he didn’t alter our reality and he did bring us back You Know Who’s paper. It really worked.”

“Yes, it did,” Dumbledore smiled. 

“Sir, what was written in that paper?” Sirius really needed to know. “I felt how strong the magic protecting it was, even in my incorporeal form. Riddle must have really written down something important to place such an enchantment on it for protection.”

“Do you know what a Horcrux is, Sirius?” Dumbledore asked and everyone gasped. “Tom Riddle, I’m afraid, knew it all too well.”

While Dumbledore explained in detail what Riddle had done and how he’d written down every single step of his plan to reach immortality in the precious parchment that Sirius recovered, including a description of all the objects he’d chosen to store a piece of his soul in, Remus kept holding Sirius’s hand and thanking every divinity that his lover came back to him in one piece.

*

The night Hogwarts was attacked and the final battle had to be fought, Sirius found himself standing side by side with Remus at the top of one of the castle towers. Their task was to guard that flank and stave off any attack.

“You know,” Sirius shouted so that Remus would hear him above all the noise. “I still think we could have used a few more people on this side.”

“The two of us together? We’re more than up to the task, Pads!”

Sirius grinned. “‘Course we are. Still, couple more wands wouldn’t hurt.”

“It’s the quality of one’s conviction that determines success, not the number of followers,” Remus cited.

“Woah, Moons. That’s deep, that is.”

Remus laughed and took a small bow. Before either of them could say more, the shield they put in place around Hogwarts started to fall under the vicious attack of the Death Eaters and the other creatures.

Wand firmly in hand, Remus moved away so they could cover more ground. “Good luck, Sirius!” 

“Wait, Remus! Wait! I need… I didn’t tell you the whole truth…”

“Not the time, Sirius! Later, okay?”

“No! Now! I did leave a message in the past,” Sirius confessed and Remus’s eyes widened. “I didn’t write to James, to warn him or change things, that bit’s true. But I did write something to my young self. I needed you to know now because… This is it. If it’s worked, this is when we’ll know.”

“Sirius!” Remus yelled, horrified.

“Nothing fixed was altered, I swear. But if I’m lucky, something else was…” 

The shield was breached and crumbled interrupting Sirius and from then on they could only fight.

*

They won. Dumbledore’s plan worked perfectly and Harry was protected by a spell that prevented Voldemort from destroying anything other than the rotten piece of soul he’d transferred to him the night he killed his parents. 

They lost a few members of the Order, and unfortunately not all the pupils and the teaching staff who’d still been inside the castle survived the attack, but they did it: They destroyed Voldemort once and for all.

Everyone huddled together in a partially destroyed Great Hall to nurse the wounded, mourn the dead, and hold the survivors close, but Sirius refused to move from his spot at the entrance. He kept looking outside as if waiting for something. 

Remus walked to him. “Come inside, Padfoot. You have a nasty gash on your forehead and I do think your wrist is at the very least sprained. Come, let us see to it.”

“Wait. Wait, Moony,” Sirius said and this plea sent a jolt through Remus, for he suddenly remembered what Sirius confessed the last time he said those exact same words.

Forcibly turning Sirius around so he could look him in the eye, Remus glared at him. “You left a message in the past?! And then you lied about it? Sirius! What did you do?”

Instead of replying, Sirius broke free from Remus’s grasp and once again faced outside. 

“I said, wait.”

Remus was about to Stupefy Sirius and float his stunned body inside the Hall but something caught his eye, and he could hear Sirius’s intake of breath.

Two lonely figures walked towards them, carefully stepping around the rubble, and Sirius didn’t waste any time running to meet them. Remus immediately ran after him, but every strength left his body when he was finally able to see who those people were.

“James? Lily?” Remus called out in a whisper.

Sirius meanwhile had thrown himself in James’s arms and the two seemed determined not to ever stop holding one another again, so the one who actually replied to Remus was Lily.

“Oh, Remus,” she said, smiling. “Oh, but it is good to see you.”

Remus closed the distance that separated him from Lily and held her close. “Lily… I can’t… But how…”

“Ask Sirius,” she replied, and Remus immediately understood. 

The ‘message’ Sirius said to have left for himself in the past! Somehow Sirius must have found a way to save his friends without changing events that were fixed. But how?

“He did it, didn’t he?” Remus mused, and Lily smiled widely. 

“Now, if only we can get him to release my husband, he can tell you exactly how he managed this.”

“In fairness, it doesn’t look like James really wants to be let go,” Remus joked, chuckling when James proved his words true by pulling Sirius back in the second he tried to step away from their embrace.

Remus and Lily moved closer and they were finally able to catch a few of the words James was whispering.

"Had to watch you… So much pain… All for us… Can’t believe… Runes…”

“Runes?” Remus wondered, and Lily showed him a curious mark on her wrist. It was swirling with light and, looking at it closely, Remus thought he could recognize the drawing of a few different Runes all joined together to form a single symbol.

Sirius stepped away from James and this time he was let go, though not allowed to move too far away – not that Sirius would even think of moving too far from James.

When James caught sight of Remus he smiled and held out the hand that wasn’t holding onto Sirius. Remus grabbed it and James immediately used it to pull him in; he also drew Sirius back to himself and hugged both his friends again.

“James, really,” Lily chided, gently. “You are going to have to let them go sooner or later.”

The three remaining members of The Marauders laughed – and wasn’t it amazing that there were three now? – and Sirius left James’s arms to go hug Lily. She returned his embrace and softly thanked him.

“How?” Remus really needed to know. “James, how?”

“Well, you see…” James started, but before he could say anything more someone else spoke.

“Dad? Mum?” Harry called, wide-eyed and shocked, from just a few feet back and from that moment on there was nothing else but tears, hugs, and murmured soothing words.

*

“I do believe we are owed an explanation, Sirius,” Dumbledore said, gravely. He was sitting at his desk in the Headmaster office, that fortuitously survived Voldemort’s attack and was intact, while the others stood in front of it.

Lily held Harry in her arms and James stood close to them, though he still grasped a handful of Sirius’s jacket, unable to bear too much distance between them. On Sirius’s other side stood Remus, while Kingsley was instead standing behind Dumbledore’s seat.

Sighing, Sirius finally spoke. “I need to apologize to all of you for lying. ‘T was by omission, but still...”

“You saved our lives, Pads!” James simply couldn’t remain silent. “No one can’t fault you for that!”

“Nobody is accusing him, James,” Kingsley answered. “But he did lie to us…”

“Yes, but…”

“Prongs, wait,” Sirius took James’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “They’re right. I said I didn’t leave any message in the past and that was a lie. To be honest, I swore right and left that I didn’t alter anything that was fixed and that was the absolute truth. That’s what you said, sir, wasn’t it?” Sirius addressed Dumbledore. “You said that to change past events would alter reality because those events were irreversible. They’d taken root and to modify even the slightest detail would permanently change the course of our world.”

Dumbledore nodded. “So what did you do, Sirius?”

“Well, I… Moony, d’you remember that book you selected for me in the library at Grimmauld Place? The one you ordered me to sit down and read so I wouldn’t bother Snape while he was making the Wolfsbane for you – and by the way, I still maintain that I could have brewed it myself, thanks very much; no need for supposed Potion Masters.”

“Oh, Sirius,” Lily sighed, while both Harry and James chuckled.

Remus rolled his eyes. “You’re saying this is somehow my fault, aren’t you?”

“Fault? Moony! We saved our friends!” Sirius shouted. 

“What was the book about, Sirius?” Dumbledore patiently enquired.

“It was an old school text about Runes. Boring for the most part, sorry to say, but somehow it caught my interest and I decided to do a little experiment. A few of the Runes described in the book could be combined into a single symbol and, after the drawing was activated by a simple spell, they would act in union to bring in effect each Rune’s peculiarity. I drew a few possibly useful ones, thinking I’d draw them on Harry or Remus so they’d be protected while they were out in the world and I was stuck at home…”

Sirius trailed off and James squeezed his hand. No one spoke though, every single eye was turned on Sirius and everyone was waiting for him to continue.

“In the end I even tried an impossible one… The combining of five particular Runes that could, if drawn and activated in time, help someone find a different path, a new way, possibly a new life. What I wanted to do was draw it on Remus, or Harry… I was hoping that, whether necessary, it would keep them in some sort of suspended after-life that would bring them back to me in the end…”

“Pads, I…” Remus’s voice was fraught with emotion. 

“Had to do something, Moony. I was still a prisoner but at least I could do magic… and what better way to use my powers than protecting you? And Harry, of course…” Sirius’s eyes filled with tears.

Harry left his mother’s arms to throw himself in Sirius’s, and he was instantly held tight.

“I’m sorry to have to interrupt this moment,” Dumbledore interjected. “I really do need to know which Runes you drew and what the spell was about, Sirius, please.”

Harry stepped back and, together with his parents and Remus, they formed a circle around Sirius. It was fairly obvious that they would support him no matter what.

“Five Runes is the most you can combine, the book explained. I used Perth, Inguz, Wunjo, Kena and Thurisaz: Initiation, New Beginning, Light, Opening, and Gateway. With Perth working to start the new path and Inguz fertilizing the soil of the new beginning, I thought I could shine a light on this new path with Wunjo that would also render the person bearing the mark free to find the blessings of the new way; and then I’d use Kena to expel the darkness and make the person able to see the light. With Thurisaz in the end, I would open the gate for them to pass through and, hopefully, return to life,” Sirius explained.

Dumbledore looked impressed. “Well done, Sirius. That’s quite an interesting combination, and very well thought out. What spell did you use on the drawing, then?”

“At first I thought I would simply use _Incipio_ , the spell for the beginning, so the power of the combined Runes would start and go into effect immediately. I thought I’d use that one on Remus and Harry at first. Of course, there was the chance that the spell wouldn’t need activating until a certain moment, so I also devised something that would light up the drawing but stop its effects until it was time. When I resolved to tell my old self to do it instead and use it on James and Lily, I knew it was imperative it wouldn’t act too soon or it would alter the events that weren’t to be touched.”

“Did you come up with such a spell on your own, Sirius?” Dumbledore seemed to be the only one able to speak, everyone else was too in awe or too surprised by Sirius’s words to say or do anything.

“I did, sir. I… If you recall, I always had a fondness for Charms and I think I would have liked to make a carreer out of it if… well, if life hadn’t forced a different route on me. Still, I think I do have an aptitude for it, if I do say so myself,” Sirius smiled, cheekily.

“Merlin, Padfoot,” James apparently found his voice. “Brilliant, you are!”

“I agree, James,” Dumbledore said. “But I still need to know how you did it. What did you write in the message you left your old self? And when did you tell yourself to draw the Runes on James’s and Lily’s wrists?”

“I didn’t have much time but I knew I had to prove to myself who I was, and that he… _I_ was reading a message penned by myself, if that makes any sense. So I wrote about something only I could know, namely the object I used as a hiding place for small, usually Muggle-related, stuff back in my parent’s house: The vase my mother stole from my aunt Auriga’s house when I was five years old.”

“Isn’t there where you left those tickets for the Bowie concert, Pads? The ones you couldn’t retrieve before you left that blasted place and came to stay with me and my parents?” James asked.

“Yup. Still bitter about that to this day,” Sirius replied, and both Remus and Lily rolled their eyes while James nodded in sympathy. “Anyway, with that out of the way, and knowing I couldn’t tell myself the real reason why we had to draw that symbol on both James and Lily, I simply wrote down that I found out it would bring luck and wanted to gift it to them when – actually, I had to write down _if_ , sorry Prongs, but I couldn’t give too much away – they got married. Then I carefully drew the mark and wrote the activation spell after it. I told myself not to mention this to anyone because, well, time-travel, you know? Better not to talk about it. I barely had time to put the paper inside my old trunk and then I started to come back to the future. From then on, I could only hope…”

“And so you came back knowing that nothing would change because your younger self would only think he was wishing luck on his friends on the eve of their marriage; but he would still have to watch them die and confront life in Azkaban,” Dumbledore surmised. “What you did was give them the chance to come back from the after-life once the fixed events ran their course, but you didn’t spare yourself any pain and you had no idea if your spell would work. Is that right, Sirius?”

“I… Yeah, I guess so, sir.”

In a flash, Sirius was enveloped by the arms of all his friends, his family, and found himself held tight. After a moment, Harry and Lily stepped back but James and Remus refused to let Sirius go and they flanked him, each holding an arm around him.

“Sir,” Harry spoke up for the first time. “Will Sirius have to face consequences for his actions? I mean, I know we still have to argue the matter of his innocence in front of the Ministry and the Wizengamot – though I do think that having my parents back will make that easier now. But will he have to be held responsible for working a spell in the past and somehow altering it? Because if that’s the case, I want you to know I won’t let it happen. I’ll say, swear even, that it was me. I used the Elder Wand, _your_ wand, sir, that you gave to me for the final battle with Voldemort, to bring my parents back to life. That’ll be my story and I’ll stick to it until the end!”

“Or I could say I drew the Runes myself, sir,” Lily interjected. “Sirius is great at Charms but I’m not that shabby, either. I could have come up with it all by myself. Would that work?”

James stepped in front of Dumbledore’s desk. “What we’re saying here, sir, is that we will not let Sirius be even lightly reprimanded for doing what he did. I expect him to be cleared as soon as possible of everything that was wrongly pinned on him, and I would hope the Ministry would want to, at the very least, apologize for the way he was treated; but he will not suffer for anything else he did, especially since he did it to save lives!”

A small whimper left Sirius’s mouth, and Remus didn’t waste any time in pulling him into his arms.

“It will be okay, Pads,” Remus whispered in Sirius’s ear. “You did it, you saved them and still kept your promise to me. Now it’s done, and it will all be alright.”

Sirius nodded, rubbing his head on Remus’s shoulder and relaxing for the very first time in what seemed, and quite possibly was, years.

*

“Shouldn’t they be out by now?” James asked, pacing and wringing his hands.

Lily murmured something and put a comforting hand on her husband’s back, but Remus just nodded and didn’t move from his position in front of the door he was trying to will open with the force of his mind ever since he got there.

They were standing outside the chamber where the Wizengamot was currently in session to deliberate on Sirius’s fate. While all of them to had been allowed inside to offer testimony or just to sit in and observe the trial proceedings, the only two people on Sirius’s side that had been granted permission to be with him during sentencing were Dumbledore, for obvious reasons, and Harry Potter. After the great service he’d given to the entire Wizarding community, no one even thought to question Harry’s request to stay inside.

That left Remus, James, and Lily outside, devoured by anxiety and worry. The trial had gone quite well, to be honest, with countless proof of Sirius’s innocence in the Potters’ deaths and of his being framed by Pettigrew being offered – not to mention the fact that James and Lily were back from the Beyond and could not only give a perfect testimony, but show that there was no death to be accused of anymore. Also, Sirius’s involvement with their miraculous return had been dampened down quite a lot since working a complicated spell while travelling in the past could be considered a serious offence: No one outside of the people that heard his confession in Dumbledore’s office knew what lengths Sirius went to in order to get his friends back.

All things considered, there was the very real possibility of everything working out in Sirius’s favour but of course something could always go wrong and no one would be able to relax until it was well and truly over.

The heavy door finally opened and Remus took a step towards it. Harry was the first to walk out of the chamber and the huge grin on his face sent a wave of relief through his parents and Remus. 

“Completely exonerated from every previous charge! They even apologized to him, and they’re debating whether to give him the Order of Merlin for the services he rendered in the war!” Harry shouted, running to hug his mother.

Sirius chose that moment to come out of the chamber, followed by Dumbledore who left in a hurry to go back to Hogwarts to oversee the repairs in progress. 

“Hear that, Prongs? Order of Merlin. Me! Ha! What do you say to that, Moony?” Sirius grinned, though emotions shone brightly in his eyes.

Whatever reply he’d been expecting never came for his friends simply walked towards him and held him tight.

Secure in the arms of two of the people Sirius loved the most in the world, he sagged and finally allowed himself to cry.

When James stepped back and moved towards his son who was enthusiastically recounting every single bit of the sentencing, Remus could finally hold Sirius properly. He immediately wiped Sirius’s cheeks off his tears, and kissed him softly.

“It’s over… You’re alright… Everything will be alright now…” Remus’s soft words were whispered against Sirius’s lips.

Sirius cut him off by kissing him deeply and, when they had to come up for air, they realised they’d been left alone in the round hallway.

“I’m free…” Sirius said, smiling and a still a bit incredulous.

Remus’s reply came in the form of another small kiss.

“What will you do with your freedom?”

Sirius laughed. “I do have some ideas… And, well… uhm…”

“What?”

“Before the judges came back in the room, Dumbledore talked to me. He’s quite impressed with my spellwork and with what I’ve done with the Runes so he offered me a job. Charms professor in the new Hogwarts. After we rebuild it, of course,” Sirius confided.

“Are you serious?” Remus shouted, excitedly.

“That’s me,” Sirius grinned and Remus rolled his eyes. “And it’s not all… How would you feel if I told you I have it on good authority that you might soon be asked to resume your post as DADA teacher?”

Disbelieving, Remus took a step back. “Me? But… Sirius, you know what happened the last time, I… I don’t think… I’m still a werewolf, you know?”

“You’re a war hero, Moony. You fought and killed Dolohov while you were defending the school! There is no one more qualified than you to teach Defense!”

Shaking his head, Remus let himself be held by Sirius and hoped his partner was right. There was nothing Remus wanted more than to teach, and he would love to do it with Sirius on the staff too.

“But wait… You haven’t been able to leave James’s side unless forced ever since he’s been back. If we’re going to be stationed at Hogwarts, how… I mean, will you…”

Sirius chuckled. “Well, the Quidditch team does need a new coach and I don’t think James would mind it too much. Do you?”

“You do have an answer for everything, don’t you?” Remus smiled when Sirius winked. “Is this all Dumbledore’s idea, then? And what does he have in mind for Lily? I suppose he shared that, too.”

“Snape has no intention of coming back to the school after he heals from his wounds and Lily’s ace at potions. Do the math.”

“Did I hear it right? Are we all going back to Hogwarts?” James asked from behind Remus’s back, and Sirius released him to go stand in front of his chosen brother.

“We’re going home, Prongs,” he said, and James clasped tightly at his robes nodding.

“I’m not sure that place will ever be ready to have The Marauders as teachers,” Lily joked from the entrance, and they all laughed. “I doubt Dumbledore really thought that through!”

They stood there, laughing and planning their future, finally secure in the knowledge that they all had one, together, and that it was definitely shaping up to be bright and full of promises.

**Author's Note:**

> Tergum in tempus is Latin for back in time. Oh, and I’m not an expert in Runes by any mean. I just found an article online and chose the Runes that better suited my purposes here. Hopefully by combining them for the spell I didn’t break some law or anything… lol!
> 
> The second story will be posted next week but they can both be read as standalones.


End file.
